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Creatures Wild and Wonderful Thrive at a Living Lab in Kenya
The Mpala Research Centre offers a pristine environment for collaborative study on how humans and wildlife can coexist in the future
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Clyde Roper Can’t Wait to Be Attacked by a Giant Squid
After studying (and eating) smaller squid for years, the Smithsonian’s cephalopod man is now ready to face the biggest calamari of all
How Taxonomy Helps Us Make Sense Out of the Natural World
We all have a need to classify plants and animals, which is what the National Museum of Natural History does on a grand scale
In the Company of Cannibals That Sting…and Glow
Found everywhere from beaches to 14,000 feet up in the Himalayas, scorpions kill more people than any other animal except snakes and bees
When a drop of rain carries a particle of dirt off the land and into the sea, there are repercussions from deep within Earth to the nearer reaches of space
Snatching scientific secrets from the hippo’s gaping jaws
Deep inside Tanzania’s Ruaha National Park, biologist William Barklow sounds out the complexities of “river horse” communication
Decibel by Decibel, Reducing the Din to a Very Dull Roar
At RH Lyon Corp, noise-busting engineers tackle everything from leaf blowers to ticking clocks in their search for the right sound
When it comes to moths, nature pulls out all the stops
Cross-dressing, sucking blood, spitting poison: moths do such crazy things, it’s no wonder researchers stay up all night studying them
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Arthur Can Make a Machine That Waves Goodbye
MIT sculptor Arthur Ganson is on a roll, creating machines that whir and clack as they seem to take on a life of their own
A Giant Shrugs Off Vandalism, Poaching, Tales of Its Demise
The Sonoran Desert’s mighty saguaro cactus is the living embodiment of the Southwest, a ‘charismatic megaplant’ that people care about
Shooting right for the stars with one gargantuan gas gun
At the Lawrence Livermore lab, researchers John Hunter and Harry Cartland want to train a behemoth barrel on the reaches of outer space
The Deep-Sea Floor Rivals Rain Forests in Diversity of Life
Blue luminescence and marine snow define a world where millions of species of worms and other invertebrates live out their lives
How the Body Defends Itself From the Risky Business of Living
Our cells take trillions of ‘hits’ each day from toxins both natural and man-made, but hardworking enzymes repair the damage
Climate Is Often a Matter of Inches and a Little Water
Planners ignore microclimates at their peril: mistakes can mean frozen crops, lower house values and camper vans blown off the highway
Today’s physics allow outrageous possibilities: faster-than-light travel across the galaxy, or even our learning to make new universes to specification
Risk: Where do real dangers lie?
We have always had to assess the chances that bad things will happen; now, new tools give us hard numbers but also raise new questions
The story behind the Smithsonian’s display tiger leads back into tiger history, man-eating and otherwise, and back to the fact that tigers are endangered
That ‘Little Armored Thing’ Doesn’t Get by on Looks Alone
It appears to be made out of spare parts, but the only mammal equipped with a carapace is actually a model of ecological efficiency
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Elephant Seals, the Champion Divers of the Deep
These ponderous pinnipeds continually set new records for diving to crushing depths; researchers are hard at work to discover just how they do it
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